As the number of first-generation college students increases at the undergraduate level, it is more important than ever to have support systems and resources in place. As you try out new interventions for your first-generation students, having feedback and hearing from others in similar positions will help you to assess and refine your approach. Join us for a one-hour discussion on both what has worked and what challenges you have encountered in working with first-generation students. Our expert-Daphne Rankin, PhD-will guide you through conversation about what interventions have worked for you in the past, what interventions you are looking to stage next, and what challenges you yourself have encountered in your work with first-generation students. You will also have the opportunity to share resources and connections with your peers and brainstorm next steps for overcoming current or future roadblocks.
Donor participation has been decreasing over the previous two decades. Identifying a strategy that reverses this trend has been a challenge for many institutions. This problem is complicated and not easily defined; yet evidence points to root causes such as a decrease in trust of higher education or how communication practices have fundamentally changed over this time, resulting in how institutional information is consumed by alumni. By focusing on deep engagement that is participatory, purposeful, and recurring, Muhlenberg College has developed a model that has improved their donor participation rate, moving them into the top 100 institutions for alumni giving. Join us online to learn the steps you can take to improve your alumni participation rate by focusing on the quality of your communication efforts, the essence of your alumni community, and the systemic changes you can make in your annual fundraising strategy.
Teams often have members from many different backgrounds, and leaders with empathy and humility are better able to bridge cultural divides and create a shared sense of community. Join us for a 1-hour discussion to strategize how to develop that sense of community on your team, regardless of each team member’s background. You’ll have the opportunity to further explore themes from Building Stronger Teams with Empathy and Humility for Leaders and to connect with leaders across higher education who are facing similar challenges.
Many leaders encounter team members with toxic or narcissistic traits, and those team members can wreck a team dynamic if left unchecked. Join us for a 1-hour discussion to strategize how to address difficult team members from a place of humility and empathy. You’ll have the opportunity to further explore themes from Building Stronger Teams with Empathy and Humility for Leaders and to connect with leaders across higher education who are facing similar challenges.
Leaders with empathy and humility have a better understanding of self and are able to cultivate those traits in others. Join us for a 1-hour discussion session where we will talk about how empathy and humility can help you be a confident leader, and how you can avoid being too empathic or humble as a leader. You’ll have the opportunity to further explore themes from Building Stronger Teams with Empathy and Humility for Leaders and to connect with leaders across higher education who are facing similar challenges.
The internal barriers new leaders face when starting a new role or project can hold them back from being successful. Negative self-talk, the inability to accept praise, and feedback that is based on your identity rather than your actions can all hinder your ability to make decisions and lead others. Join us for a one-hour discussion where we’ll strategize ways to work through your fears and difficulties with leadership.
The internal barriers new leaders face when starting a new role or project can hold them back from being successful. Negative self-talk, the inability to accept praise, and feedback that is based on your identity rather than your actions can all hinder your ability to make decisions and lead others. Join us for a one-hour discussion where we’ll strategize ways to work through your fears and difficulties with leadership.
Faculty and development professionals must share a commitment to philanthropy in order for a grateful patient fundraising (GPFR) program to be successful. Building trust, respect, and rapport is best accomplished through a strategic process that involves educating and training medical faculty partners. When your medical faculty understands the “why,” the “how,” and the “what” of your GPFR program, it is often much easier to engage grateful patients and successfully close gifts. This training will discuss the essential elements of a training guide that development professionals should consider in their initial meetings with faculty as they begin a partnership in GPFR. Join us in this useful online training to deepen your capability as a gift officer in academic medicine and learn ways to successfully achieve buy-in from your medical faculty partners.
A portfolio is the engine that drives a gift officer’s work and sets them up for future success. However, for new or seasoned professionals alike, opportunities to look at your portfolio with a different viewpoint can be highly beneficial as you seek to understand your portfolio data and prioritize donor relationships. Additionally, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, institutions are facing a reset moment with their portfolios as they are able to travel again to meet donors in person. Join us for this webcast to learn how to identify key data points in your portfolio which you can then use to cultivate relationships with your donors and chart a path for success in your own portfolio management.
When your institution receives a major gift, whether in the form of one single gift or through a multi-year pledge, it is important to manage that gift accurately. This includes placing the gift in its appropriate account on campus, ensuring that pledge reminders are sent out and payment secured in a timely manner, and that the donation is used according to donor intent. However, when frontline fundraisers introduce new gifts, the institutional destination and purpose of the gift can get lost in translation as it makes its way to advancement services for processing. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that the processes between advancement services and frontline fundraising are sound and that communication is consistent to prevent circumstances that can lead to loss in revenue, missed pledges, or money spent incorrectly. Join us for this online training to learn how the University of Utah created a new position specific to addressing these common problems within advancement. This session will help your shop to identify and scale your current process by adopting some of Utah’s best practices to better streamline communication across these two areas.
